Multi-corner contest is likely in almost all the 50 wards of the Vizianagaram Municipal Corporation as rebels seem to be not willing to withdraw their nominations in spite of the efforts of top leaders of the YSRCP and the Telugu Desam Party. Between the two, the YSRCP is feeling the rebel heat more as official candidates are facing competition from 22 of their own party leaders who filed nominations as independents in various wards.
As many as 413 nominations were filed for the 50 wards – 104 from YSRCP, 152 from TDP, 27 from BJP, 17 from Congress, 4 from BSP and 2 from CPI(M).
The contest by 97 independents assumes significance in the corporation elections as slender margins could change the fortunes of the candidates. Twenty-two independents who entered the fray with the support of former Municipal Chairperson Avanapu Suribabu’s family are drawing the attention of many, since a majority of them have a good following in their respective divisions.
Suribabu’s wife Avanapu Chinnammalu, son Vikram and daughter-in-law Bhavana have already filed their nominations as independents with much fanfare after they were denied tickets by the YSRCP, with which they have a long association.
YSRCP general secretary and a relative of Avanapu family Kalla Gowri Sankar said that the independents would not withdraw their nominations since they had enough winning chances.
Kolagatla confident
Meanwhile, MLA Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy ruled out any significant impact by the rebel candidates on the party’s winning chances. He said people were keen to extend their wholehearted support to the ruling party due to the effective implementation of various welfare schemes by the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
TDP Vizianagaram unit in charge Aditi Gajapathi Raju, who issued B-forms to the candidates on Saturday evening, said that the party’s strength remained intact in all the 50 wards because of the developmental activities taken up by the Chandrababu Naidu government during 2014-19 in the municipal limits.
